Gordon Great At Winning--except The Hearts Of Fans

November 07, 1998|By Skip Myslenski, Tribune Auto Racing Writer.

HAMPTON, Ga. — He stirs emotions, and that's the aim of any performer. He inspires awe and envy, admiration and jealousy, love and loathing, and that's the fate of any great artist. Even Michael Jordan, who has captured a world's fancy, occasionally has found himself in the cross hairs of snipers, and all he did was carry his sport to unimagined riches.

Jeff Gordon, in turn, doesn't smoke or drink, does advertisments for milk and rejects million-dollar offers to do the same for beer. He is happily married, studies the Bible the night before he races, visits hospitals when his busy schedule allows, is attractive enough to earn $6.5 million away from the track and, much like Jordan, dominates his sport without spewing garbage or unfurling histrionics aimed at embarrassing his opposition.

Still, when Gordon is introduced Sunday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, a sizable portion of the 150,000 fans on hand will boo him lustily and then wish him nothing but misfortune in the NAPA 500 that will close the Winston Cup season.

"But how can I complain when people boo?" Gordon says. "Actually, it's a good thing because it means I'm winning.

"If I wasn't winning, you wouldn't hear any of that, so I'm not bothered by it, really. I just kind of smile, wave back at them and walk away.

"It's just something that happens. When Dale (Earnhardt) and Darrell (Waltrip) and Rusty Wallace were winning all the time, fans cheered when they had something go wrong. It's the nature of our sport. And you know, there's a lot of cheers mixed in there with the booing."

This response typifies the equanimity that always suffuses Gordon, who has maintained calm all through his year of near-historical dominance. He has been accused of cheating. He has been accused of sandbagging. He has even been accused of being too good, and of transforming the Cup series from a weekly adventure into an endless replay.

Never, in the face of all this, has he responded with an outburst, or wavered in his pursuit of victories and yet another championship. It was only fitting then that he secured the NASCAR title, his third in four years, with a victory last week at Rockingham. It also is fitting that he already wears the crown for his appearance here in Atlanta, where his Cup career began on a November day in 1992.

Richard Petty, whose persona had helped stock car racing buff up its image, would drive his last race that afternoon and finish four spots behind 21-year-old Jeff Gordon, who few realized was the King's successor-in-waiting. In 1995, in just his third full season, Gordon earned the first of his titles and, after finishing second in 1996, he won another last year.

All of that, no matter how impressive, was merely a glimpse of what was to come this season. Gordon has won a dozen races, one short of the record Petty set in 1975 and the most since Waltrip won 12 in 1982. He twice has collected a $1 million bonus and he has more than $6 million in race winnings, nearly double the amount won by Dale Jarrett, who's next on the money list.

Gordon has captured seven poles (no other driver has more than four) and 25 top-five finishes (only one other driver,Mark Martin is second with 21). In one remarkable stretch, Gordon finished in the top five in 17 consecutive races, one shy of the record David Pearson set in 1968, and he made a shambles of the championship race while running away from Martin, who trails Gordon by 344 points despite winning a respectable seven races.

"He's a lot smarter now, I can tell you that, and a lot more experienced. He might ever be braver," says Ray Evernham, Gordon's crew chief, who has been with him from the beginning. "The technician part of his talent is what has gotten better. He knows the limits and understands tires and patience and what he needs to do with his car."

Racing is just what Gordon loves to do.

"I want to be in a position where I can be behind the wheel of the car and do my job to make it a winning car," he says. "I especially love being part of a winning team, but even on those days when we're not a winning combination, I still just like being behind the wheel and being challenged by that."

Gordon meets those challenges and beats those challenges, seemingly with the greatest of ease. This is one reason Gordon inspires enmity as well as admiration. That he is doing it at an age (27) when Earnhardt still was winless only further stirs his detractors, who simply increase their booing when he smiles and slides easily off into the bright sunset he has created for himself.

Gordon has accepted the fate of any great artist. ("I know people have criticized me as being phony, but that's not true," he says.) Yet even here, as he stands astride his sport, the raging competitor that lives within him remains the dominant force. This is a truth Gordon proves constantly on the track and the truth he reiterates when he says, "Just being out there is challenging to me.

"That's why this (the season championship) means an awful lot. I don't know what to say when you work your whole life to get to a point like this and you start to realize a lot of your dreams. I can't tell you what it means to me to win three championships because there aren't very many who have done it. (There have been six others, including Petty, Pearson and Earnhardt.) When my name is mentioned in the same sentence with those drivers, it's very overwhelming to me.

"I don't think I can ever say exactly in words what it means to me. But what we've done is something I'm going to enjoy forever."